Careers and Crohn's Disease

[steph]

Hello everyone.

I want to know what ppl do for a career and if you have had to change it or stop working altogether?

I am a dental assistant and get a lot of joint pain. every time i try to taper the prednisone, seems to get tender again. anyways, i need to be on my feet all the time and be fast - which is a tad hard when you are limping around. so i am in the process of changing my career. i was thinking aesthetics since i still get to work one on one w/ people, but am sitting on my ass. and i figure that would be a relaxing job, esp if i eventually become self employed.

i want to know if others have gone through this and what your feeling were. i found it tough to accept in the beginning, since i have good job security and pay. but in the end, health is what is most important.

take care, steph

 

[btcrv]

Yeah Steph,

I never realized how much people take their health for granted until it happened to me. I am a PhD student in school psychology. The main problem that Crohn's gives me with my work is sometimes when I am giving IQ tests, I have to stop for bathroom breaks. On days when I feel yucky, I always have psych reports to write so that I don't have to use all my energy with the kids.

I hope that you find something that works out for you.

 

[kc0eks]

I dont have a career, nor any plans. I didnt finish college, and so dont have much to go on. AND I feel like im dead most of the time. So I dont work right now...kinda sucks all around.

 

[DannyB]

Hye Steph,

Interesting question this one for me. My crohns has dominated my life from a young age and as such affected my education quite a bit and the authority wasn't very good at extra education. I am studying now doing an open learning course to help better myself cause at the moment I am a car salesman and although the money is good, you don't really have to use any brain cells so it gets a bit boring so yeah I would defo wanna change sometime.

thx

 

[mikeyarmo]

I am currently a university student, and while Crohn's did affect me somewhat, the university has been very helpful and supportive. I missed a boatload of school and tests and even the vast majority of my exams, but I was still able to write a defered exam for all the courses and get my credits. There was one course I will need to wait until December to write the exam, but considering that is only one course things worked out very well for me.

I also was able to have some additional time on the exam (before I had surgery and was in so-so shape) and write the exam alone in a room by myself. This helped a lot, as it was quieter and much less stressful.

 

[ChicagoCrohns]

I rencently became a massage therapist. I thought it would be a good career change because I'd be able to help people and be in a business with a positive environment. I worked as a MT for 3 weeks and go sick..had to go in the hospital & quit my job. After being sick for 3 months I decided to go back to work and have settled on my old standby...salon receptionist...I sit around all day waiting for the phone to ring. But the place is nice and there is potential for massage...maybe just a few a week so I don't overdo it but can still feel that I'm doing what I want.

 

[Donna]

I was a medical secretary before being diagnosed. However, now I finally am on disability. There would be no way for me to hold a full-time (or even part-time) job right now. I have too many bm accidents, and I feel like a slug. If I worked, I would never have the energy to do that plus take care of my kids and house. Sooo...I do little things here and there...I make jewelry, and I am trying hard to start my own small business. Unfortunatly, that isn't going far, since I can't commit the time I need for it.

I would have loved to have a career. But, I guess, in reality, I have the best career a person could have. I am, after all, a full-time Mommy, and even tho it doesn't have the greatest of pays, no sick days, and no time off, I do get the best hugs and cuddles around!

Donna

 

[steph]

thanks everyone, all your stories are interesting and helpful. i suppose since crohn's is a stress in itself, the last thing we need is stress in our jobs.
cheers to all, steph
PS i hear that if a full-time mom got pay - you would make about $100,000 a year. not bad hey.

 

[Valentina]

Hi Steph, Ive been pretty lucky I guess with my job, I get to sit down at the computer and work in a very laid back office, with very understanding people. Im a graphic designer, and I think the only time it effects my work is when Im feeling really bad, I find it hard to be creative and get a lot done on days I have a lot of deadlines, but I try to just get through the day. I think Im my own worst enemy at times, I tend to take on more than I can handle, and work at home every evening and weekends.. I just dont know how to say no when people ask me to work on stuff I suppose unfortunately, some day I will learn the hard way... but hope not any time soon! Ive got too much to do! lol

 

[Kossy]

I have a pretty crappy job...

 

[DannyB]

I dunno kossy, I think my part-time job has its moments aswell I can guarantee you!

 

[plagueius]

My Job

Retail Dept. manager. not alot of people know about my condition at work. I keep it under wraps. I try not to let crohns go to work with me

 

[steph]

hilarious kossy and danny

 

[scottishgirl]

well i was a riding instructor and had to give up the job and my horses when i got sick, i didnt work for 2 years and then i got a little part time job at the RAF base but i couldnt manage that either not that i care although i miss the job with the horses.

 

[meowsie]

I work in retail full time. It's a great job just b/c of the company I work for. I completely believe in the products (Macs and iPods), so that helps. I often say that I "drank the Kool-Aid" for the products years ago, but now I'm drinking the corporate Kool-Aid as well.

Pretty much everyone at work knows about my condition. They have been nothing short of fantastic about it. I got exactly zero grief when I had to take off 3 weeks for my surgery. Couldn't ask for a more supportive workplace.

I could ask for a more mentally challenging position, tho... Am currently pondering the merits of going back to school for a degree in counseling. I play therapist to my friends all the time. Might as well get paid for it, eh? :lol:

 

[btcrv]

Yeah, it is rewarding work. Be careful though... often when I meet new people and tell people I am a psychologist, they want to tell me all their problems. Puts a damper on things at a party when I want to have fun.

Lucky for me, I am a school psychologist and tell them I can only help people 18 and under

 

[steph]

hey steph, maybe you could find another way of working with horses that would be better for you. i am not sure what kind of jobs there are, but that way you are still around them.
good luck.

it's definately important to have support from you work place. my work sort of has support - but "if i am sick more then one day of the year then it might be a problem". which i understand in my position, because i can't just wake up and call in sick - i have to call someone in advance to replace me - so i have to beable to predict the future and know that i will be sick. which is just a stress that no one with this or any disease needs really. i have done it for 4 yrs and am good at it (dental assisting) - just can't keep up anymore. probably for the best anyways.
cheers

 

[Skinsfan1229]

I used to be a glazier, no not donuts, but glass. I installed shower enclosures, mirrored walls, table tops, that type of thing, it got pretty physical if you can imagine pulling out 140 inch x 80 inch sheets of mirror and glass that is 1/4inch to 1/2 inch thick and putting it on a table. That got pretty hard with flaring, especially since I lose a lot of weight, usually I'm under 100 pounds when flaring before it gets under control, so my GI eventually told me one day in the hosptal that I needed to have a job where I used my mind instead of my muscles, I agreed and went to college after putting it off for 2 years.

Now I am a CAD student(Computer Aided Drafting/Design), this way I can use my mind, be at a computer most of the day, and most likely be close to a bathroom.

Now that I'm back in school, I dont want to stop, I think I'll always want to go to school to better myself, if not to better my career.

 

[Jeff D.]

Skinsfan I dont know how you do CAD it is so boring but I guess drawing preplanned stuff while under a flare makes it hard to have fun doing it. LOL

I am a full time student and part time Subway employee. The owners know of my condition and are real nice since I have known them for about four years and through the dark years I call it. They used to give me free sandwiches so I could gain weight faster but it didnt help so they just always gave me free double meat. Now I make the sandwiches and it is so much fun.

But after next year I am going to college for either physical therapy or excercise physiology.

 

[Kev]

Hey Skinsfan... I know a lot of CAD people. None of them are boring. Takes brains to take what designers & engineers dream up and put it together so that someone can build it. Mind you, they were a royal pain when it came to their 'puters'. Always whining to get the newest, the fastest, the most bells & whistles. Anyway, good luck

 

[Skinsfan1229]

Its not that its easy or I'm "copying" from hand drawn plans...I design, not just draft.

 

[Jeff D.]

No I know I just hated copying stuff.

LOL

 

[boneyboy]

I'm a LAN Support Analyst. The long and short of that is that I support an entire Microsoft network. From the servers, the networking equipment, the Cisco Routers, the desktop machines, the printers, keyboards, mice (coffee is a bad bad bad boy in my office), etc. The company thinks that anything that plugs into a wall falls under my "support" services. I also design and implement many different aspects of the network. Configure servers, firewalls (I really hate them btw), all aspects of all things computer related.

I am on call 24x7. Honestly, deep down I love it. However the place I currently work for really drags me down. I work with mostly "dumb" people - I'm using that term VERY loosely. Most people seem to be extremely depressed and negative that I work with, and it seems to have an effect on me as well. That therefore translates into affecting the crohn's at times, but I seem to be able to keep it under control. Basically I think it's just the place I currently work at. However the medical benefits are absolutely phenomenal here, and to be honest that's really the only thing that has kept me where I am so far.

I have a part time gig potentially lined up. I'll be working my main job and the part time one for a bit, get some stuff paid off, and then if things go well with the part time gig I'll possibly leave here and move on to that job.

In other words, I'm gonna be pushin myself 150% for about the next 6-12 months. Depends on how things work out with the part time gig of course, but only time will tell.

FYI - the part time gig is an onsite technical support position, still PC-related. I'll be inundated with PCs. Somehow I still like them

 

[Kev]

Another computer geek myself... started in the 80's, probably before a lot of you were born... Now, I naturally love puzzles. Love to discover why/how things work (or don't).. That part of my career was the best... However, it tends to alienate you from your co-workers... You start to see them as dumb (tho they generally aren't, its just that they keep coming to you with their puter problems, and most of the probs are theirs in the making). But what if our doctors felt that way? Anyway, the hours and pressure took a toll on me over the years. Figure if it hadn't been the Crohns forcing me to slow down, I'd have had a stroke or angina

 

[flying4frogs]

And another computer geek, sort of. I design electronic systems and write the software that runs it. I have been a geek since the early 80's also. And my favorite saying is "..Mikey, they just build better idiots these days."
It is a perfect job for CD. I set my own hours, can do work from home, bed, office, hosiptal etc (where ever I can have my laptop). My boss is really cool about me taking time off if I don't feel well.

Nel

 

[gotts1]

Civil Engineer with LA DOTD. I work out in the field quite a lot and that can be difficult at times with finding a bathroom and all the walking involved after years of prednisone. I keep a roll of toilet paper behind the seat in case I need to hit the woods. I have also thought about changing not necessarily careers, but to more of a design engineer that would be in the office more instead of doing the construction management. I have to meet with the surgeon Friday to get some details on surgery. I have been dreading this time for 20 yrs now. Treatment has always kept me from having to go under the knife.

 

[Skinsfan1229]

I totally understand Gotts1.

Civil Engineer would probably be my all-tim favorit job....How does it work to work from home as a Civil Enginerr/.

I wouldnt mind foing work in ISS(Information Security System), I could work from hone, telecommute.

I am a CAD student right now, hopeing when I gratuate I'll be able to start up small home-run office, next to the bathroom!, and do 3d walkthroughs, or animations of pre-existing architecture plans, that way I can learn some html or whataver I need, that way when I do complete the 3d walkthrough (to give customers a feel of the layout and feel of the house), that way when I finish I could just put them on the architects website also...get paid twice maybe? lol